Celebrating Earth Month with the Sustainable Growth Coaltion

April 16, 2020

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Bridget Rathsack

April marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Month, a time for people to come together and celebrate our world. Earth Month provides an opportunity for us to advocate for and champion meaningful changes to protect our environment and keep our communities healthy. There are so many things we can and must do to keep our planet healthy, reduce waste and work toward equitable health and environmental outcomes for peoples across the globe.

When we started looking at how we were going to celebrate Earth Month at the Minnesota Sustainable Growth Coalition, we did not envision that we would be in the middle of a global pandemic impacting people, nations and economies in every corner of our world. But we are here, and it demonstrates that our Coalition’s commitment to a systems approach, strong economies, equitability and a sustainable, circular economy is more important than ever.

We are all connected, and the actions of the individual, of a company, of a community or of a nation impact us all in one way or another. A systems approach means understanding the whole and how everything is interconnected. Our Coalition’s mission around circularity means we are collaborating and working toward long-term, sustainable solutions that reduce emissions, provide access to clean and affordable energy and water, find ways to reuse materials to protect our world’s limited natural resources, and advance a thriving, circular economy that benefits everyone.

At the Coalition, our members remain committed to circularity and sustainability, but this Earth Month, they are also focused on healing our planet in a different way. Our members are leading the charge to keep our world healthy and protect our most vulnerable. There are numerous examples of Coalition leadership from 3M making critically-needed face masks and Ecolab making disinfection solutions to Target and General Mills ensuring that people can access the food and goods they need to HealthPartners and Blue Cross Blue Shield providing resources and care for those in need of access to our health care system.

While we are all doing our part around COVID-19 right now, our Coalition also remains committed to long-term goals that keep our planet and people healthy.

So as we mark half a century of Earth Month this year, we encourage you to take care of one another, take care of our world and know that in all things, we are in this together and will continue to support and advocate for each other.